no OPT and apply for a job without work permit

b_r_um
Thu, 17 Jul 2014 15:14:15 +0000

A labor condition application is the first step for an employer who wants to sponsor a foreigner for an H-1B work visa. It’s filed by the employer, not you. The bad news is that the H-1B process is expensive for your employer, takes a long time (currently 6 months from application to employment start date for most situations) and the outcome is uncertain (there’s a yearly cap on the number of H-1Bs that may be issued and USCIS runs a lottery to decide which applications will be processed).

The quota for the fiscal year 2015 has already been reached, which means that no new H-1B applications will be accepted until April 2015 (for employment start date in October 2015 or later). There’s a few exceptions, mostly for universities, government research organizations and employees who already have an H-1B and want to transfer employers.

There are also exceptions for nationals of a few countries, which have their own work permit categories. For example, nationals of Mexico and Canada can apply for a TN-1 work visa, nationals of Australia for an E-3 visa and nationals of Singapore have an additional allowment of H-1B visas thanks to a treaty between the US and Singapore.

If you want to get the full scope on all options available to you, talk to a competent immigration lawyer.